Maybe This Time
by lella7
Summary: James tries unsuccessfully to win Lily's love and yet, somehow, it's when he doesn't try that he succeeds.


**A/N – Written for the second round of Fanfiction Idol on the HPFC forum. We had to write a oneshot based on a single stanza from a song we were given and this was mine:**

"_All the odds are, they're in my favour_

_Something's bound to begin_

_It's gonna happen, happen sometime_

_Maybe this time I'll win"_

**I hope you enjoy this. Reviews are love :)**

Maybe This Time

James and Sirius fought their way through the packed carriages of the Hogwarts Express, loudly discussing their summer holiday, with Peter trailing behind them, hanging on to their every word. Sirius darted into an empty compartment and sprawled himself out across three seats.

"Oy, get up," said James, gently punching his shoulder.

"Well I've got to save a seat for Moony, haven't I, for when he gets back from cosying up to Lily Evans in the prefects' compartment."

"It won't do him any good." James replied, shoving Sirius' legs off a seat and sitting down. "Evans has eyes only for me."

"Yeah, she does seem to have a particular icy glare that she reserves just for you, Prongs."

"An icy glare that she uses merely to conceal her overwhelming attraction to me. It's just a matter of time before she cracks."

"You think? Because whenever you ask her out, she manages to hide that overwhelming attraction so well, you'd almost think she despised you."

"She's an excellent actress."

"Have you ever considered that, just maybe, you ask her out too much?"

"Well, the more times I ask her, you see, the more likely she is to say yes. She can't say no forever can she? So combine the fact that I asked her out pretty much every day last year, with my irresistible charm, and the odds are most definitely in my favour."

"You do know," Remus said, as he appeared in the doorway of the compartment, "that I could hear every word you were saying from the other end of the carriage?"

"I'm dreadfully sorry, Moony," Sirius replied, hanging his head in mock-shame. "I am truly shocked at my behaviour."

"I bet you're not as shocked as I was to hear you speaking with the voice of reason, Padfoot. If only poor love struck Potter would take your advice to heart."

"Take advice from him!" James snorted derisively.

"Yeah, how dare you suggest that I'm the voice of reason," said Sirius, lobbing a Fanged Frisbee in Remus' direction. Peter dived off his seat to get out of the way and Remus squirmed, chuckling, as he batted the toy away, straight into the pale hand of Lily Evans.

"Fanged Frisbees are banned, as I'm sure you well know by now," she snapped, glaring at Remus with a look that clearly said _Why aren't you doing anything to stop them?_

"Are you going to put us all in detention, Lily?" Sirius asked with wide, mock-innocent eyes.

"I doubt it'll make a bit of difference to you lot," she scowled. "And besides, don't you have about a month's worth of detentions left to do from last year?"

"Something like that," James said with an obnoxious grin. "But the good news is they'll finish just before the first Hogsmeade weekend, so you needn't worry; it won't get in the way of our incredibly romantic first date."

Lily ignored his comment. "If you keep breaking the rules, I'll just have to suggest to McGonagall that you're not fit to captain the Quidditch team this year."

James was a little taken aback, but with a glance at Sirius, he quickly recovered his arrogant composure.

"Look Evans, it's not going to do our relationship much good if you keep making threats like that, is it?"

Lily rolled her eyes and stalked out of the compartment with the confiscated toy.

James chuckled and leaned out of the door to call down the carriage after her. "You know it's going to happen sometime, Evans. Why prolong the inevitable?"

ooo

A week later, James strutted down the corridor on his way to his first Quidditch practice as captain of the Gryffindor team. His happy bubble of pride, however, burst abruptly as he heard the unmistakeable sound of sobbing.

It took him a few seconds to locate the source of the noise, which was coming from the passageway behind a tapestry of Uric the Oddball, which James knew led down to the kitchens.

He debated for a moment whether he should go in, but he realised that he couldn't just walk away when there was someone clearly in need of help. He gently pushed back the tapestry and saw a figure, sat against the wall of the thin passageway, tense at the intrusion. Then he saw a flash of her bright red hair.

"Lily?"

"Get lost, Potter," she hissed furiously, scrambling up and making off down the passageway.

James dashed after her, placing his hand gently but firmly on her shoulder and she spun to face him, livid.

"I'm _really_ not in the mood for this, go and mock someone else!"

"I'm not going to mock you," James said in surprise. "I came to see if I could help. I... what's happened? What's the matter?"

Lily's angry expression faltered at the obvious concern in James' voice and after a few seconds of silence, she handed James the scrap of paper which had been balled in her fist.

He unfurled it in equal silence and discovered that it was an article that had been torn from this morning's _Daily Prophet_. It seemed to James rather unremarkable. It told the story of a Muggle family who had been killed by the Death Eaters. Obviously it was horrible, but it was something that happened almost every day and the Wizarding world had grown used to it. Such articles weren't even front page news anymore; they had been relegated to quarter-pages halfway through the newspaper. That must mean...

"Did you know these people?" James asked softly.

Lily shook her head with a sniff. "No, I'd never even met them."

"Then why...?"

"They lived only a few miles from my family," Lily murmured, her gaze fixed on the floor.

"Oh," James replied, feeling a bit useless, but he really had no idea how to comfort her.

"They didn't even have any connection to a witch or wizard. They were just a normal Muggle family. And you know what that means?"

James shook his head, a little shocked by the deep bitterness and rage that had crept into Lily's voice.

"It _means_ they had no reason whatsoever for killing those people. They just did it for fun." Lily was now physically shaking with rage and all James could think to do was pat her awkwardly on the shoulder. "If something ever happened to my family I'd..." Lily trailed off as she burst into fresh tears and James wrapped his arms around her letting her cry into his shoulder. He understood how she felt; not a day went by that he didn't worry about his own family's safety, almost every student at Hogwarts did. And yet he couldn't for the life of him think of anything remotely consoling to say.

After five minutes, Lily pulled away and said, "I should let you go to Quidditch practice, you must be late by now."

"No, it doesn't matter, they can start without me. I'm more worried about you."

Lily smiled up at him with wide red-rimmed eyes. "I'll be alright. I should go and tidy myself up a bit. But thank-you, James."

She slipped back out into the corridor and James was left staring after her in puzzlement. After years of trying, it seemed he had finally managed to impress Lily Evans. And yet he hadn't even done anything.

Maybe he really did stand a chance with her.


End file.
